Matt, on and off I have been messing around with marcos recipie for sicilian, and had some really good results the other night. Also, I was able to hand knead it and came out with a great result. I do think marco is right about using durum wheat flour, but not semolina. I tried semolina a couple times and its just not the right size grind to acieve a nice result. Check these pictures out from the other night. The texture of the crust was great, and i think if I give it a bit more time, I can get it a bit more open and even lighter. -marc

Matt, on and off I have been messing around with marcos recipie for sicilian, and had some really good results the other night. Also, I was able to hand knead it and came out with a great result. I do think marco is right about using durum wheat flour, but not semolina. I tried semolina a couple times and its just not the right size grind to acieve a nice result. Check these pictures out from the other night. The texture of the crust was great, and i think if I give it a bit more time, I can get it a bit more open and even lighter. -marc

The Sicilian pizza you and Matt having been working on sure looks great! Norma

Matt, on and off I have been messing around with marcos recipie for sicilian, and had some really good results the other night. Also, I was able to hand knead it and came out with a great result. I do think marco is right about using durum wheat flour, but not semolina. I tried semolina a couple times and its just not the right size grind to acieve a nice result. Check these pictures out from the other night. The texture of the crust was great, and i think if I give it a bit more time, I can get it a bit more open and even lighter. -marc

Bravo Marc! I'm going to give it a shot this weekend. I think that the DLX will do a really good job with this dough. Was it difficult to hand knead? Did you stretch it out before placing it on the pan or did you press it out right on the pan? I'm going to Rome & Florence in a couple of months & can't wait to try the pizza in teglia in Rome.

Matt, I think you are right about the DLX working well with this type of dough. I have knocked the hydration down to 70 percent, and incorporated the olive oil during the hand knead so it was not that bad at all. Aslo, I did not do the overnigt fridde method. I started it in the morning, as a poolish, and ate it the same night. I did not stetch it that much before panning, just used a fair amount of oil, and time then let it rise before baking at 500 on my stone. Let us know how yours turns out. -marc

Matt, I think you are right about the DLX working well with this type of dough. I have knocked the hydration down to 70 percent, and incorporated the olive oil during the hand knead so it was not that bad at all. Aslo, I did not do the overnigt fridde method. I started it in the morning, as a poolish, and ate it the same night. I did not stetch it that much before panning, just used a fair amount of oil, and time then let it rise before baking at 500 on my stone. Let us know how yours turns out. -marc

Marc,

How much dough did you use in your 1/2 sheet pan? I find that spreading the dough in an well oiled pan causes the dough to retract/slide. The solution that I found works best is to pin the dough over all 4 corners. Lately I have been pressing it out first & then restretching in the pan. I think that I may give the roman style a shot. Marco recommends doing an overnight fermentation for the poolish @ 18 degrees which is the exact ambient temperature of my sauna this time of year. I might as well take advantage of it.

Widespread...I think you have hit a MAJOR home run with your pizza. If it tastes half as good as it looks you will have a hard time keeping up with family/friends orders Would you share your adjustments to the original formula as well as the steps involved..both forming and cooking... Thanks much...

Matthew...Thanks for the baker's percentage breakdown...I hope you post pictures of your "finished product". I am anxious to see the end results based on this formula...

Flour (100% FINE DURUM WHEAT FLOUR):512gWater (70%):358gCY (.50%):rounded to 3gSalt (1.5%):8gOil (5%):25gtotal. 907g/32oz this is what I have been using in my 16x16x1 square pans.

poolish 9 am room temp.

I used a one large plastic bowl for mixing the whole way through, along with the danish dough whisk/hook from fg pizza. that tool is awesome for many many tasks.all water 100%50% of the durum wheat flour2 grams of the yeastlet ferment for 6 hours or so., or until nice and active. this could possibly be done overnight?

Then in same large bowl, mix in other half of flour, salt and remainder of yeast till all was moist. Let rest covered for a bit to fully absorb water, 15 min? then in 10 minute intervals, incorporate the evoo. This is what enabled the hand kneading. Dump a little oil on top of dough, and sort of fold it in. I have been working with a book called the handmade loaf and really this is where I have picked up this approach. repeat 4 times until all oil is incorporated, form a ball as best as possible and let rise for an hour or so or until doubleish. Then oil pan with a fair amount of evoo, keep in the middle only start spreading the dough out, trying not to deflate as much as possible. When doing this again take breaks to let the gluten relax. Matt, this flour seems to have less of a tendecy to snap back. Once almost or fully spread, drizzle with oil on top and brush in to keep the dough moist while rising. Place on oven and preheat to 500 for an hour or so or until you see the thickness of the dough double or more. Place on stone for 8 mins or so. Remove, top as desired and throw it back in until it looks right, for me total bake time was about 15 mins. I hope this helps and if you give it a shot let me know how it works out. -marc

BSO, I would say that depends on a lot of factors, but, I would never want to expose my cheese to 15-20 minutes of 500 degree heat. Also, having the crust un topped results in an easier better spring. Trust me, I would rather make it all at once. -marc

Matt, nice work! I am having trouble figuring out which recipie you mean. Rely # 3 where. Is this a 15/85 or 100% semolina? either way it looks great. -marc

Thanks Marc, it was the 15/85. Next time I'll try the 100% semola. What I found interesting was that the side with the sauce had alot less oven spring than the side without. Maybe next time I will parbake it prior to putting the sauce on like I did with the potato side.

marc, matt, good looking pizzas!! i am going to try this using semolina flour . marc, how did you do your tomato sauce is it crushed unseasoned with fresh basil ? matt, what is the seasoning used for the potatoes ? can you give me the procedure [par-cooked or raw]. my family will not eat my Neapolitan, they don't appreciate it. the two pizzas above will not last with my foodaholic family.

Zaman, thanks they sure are getting better. Yes on this pizza I just used crushed plum tomatoes, a little salt and lots of basil, some duing the last half of baking, and again after taking the pizza out. Sorry to hear the family doesn't appreciate your neapolitan efforts, they sure look good to me. Simplicity is aquired taste, maybe they will come around? I am sure you could do some more NY stlye pies on your wfo at a lower temp too. -marc

mac, my wife is a dietitian and she is very salt sensitive the Neapolitan dough with the high salt content is hard for her to handle. i am now doing it at 2% salt . i just picked up the handmade loaf off of amazon ,last one in stock!

Zaman, thats right I forgot about the salt thing. That makes sense. I try not to exceed 2-2.5% and thats a pretty high amount of salt if one plans to eat the whole pizza, like I usually do. Ita a once a week thing for me. -marc

marc, matt, you got me on this one , not very pretty, didn't get the oven spring, but it tasted great! good dough recipe .

It's a super tough dough to work with. You likely didn't get the spring because of the sauce. Try par baking the crust for about 10 minutes before adding the toppings, especially the cheese. I'm going to make it again on the weekend.